On sale date: October 18, 2014
Doctors enter your afterlife to bring you back from the dead.
This new graphic novel from acclaimed cartoonist Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button) is his most taut book to date. Dr. Cho is the creator of the Charon, a device that allows his staff to take the form of a memory in a dead patients' consciousnesses, and bring them back to life, with one catch: the experience is traumatic and the process kills them again soon thereafter. But for some bereaved, the opportunity is priceless. So when Bell is killed in a random accident, her daughter hires Dr. Cho’s team to bring her back. But what if Bell didn’t want to come back? The dying unconsciously create the afterlife they want, or feel they deserve, in their minds before everything fades to black. Isn’t that better than the reality, and no less meaningful than life itself? Can unconsciousness coexist with consciousness? Doctors is part science-fiction thriller, part family drama, part morality play for the 21st century, and quite possibly Shaw’s best book to date.
2015 Ignatz Award Nominee: Outstanding Story
Praise
“With his signature spare, thick line work on display, Shaw pursues his twin main interests-stressed families and sotto voce science fiction-in his most audacious color exercise since The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century (2010) and his most eventful book ever. [Starred Review]” — Ray Olson - Booklist
“The artist makes a statement, subtly, about the worlds we build for ourselves and the materials from which we construct them, but Shaw is rarely interested in simple answers. ... There’s little restraint here: Shaw’s impulse shies away from the stereotypically 'classy,' and instead bangs together two under-respected genres, leads to something strange and wonderful — yet again.” — Hillary Brown - Paste
“[Doctors] is deeply shaded with longing and regret and pathos, redolent of the things we do for love, alive with the very human attempts to find meaning within a web of relationships and self-actualization. … Our recommendation is that, beyond its inherent worthiness for longtime Dash Shaw fans and anyone interested in 1) comics and 2) the human condition, this is a perfect starter work for introducing someone to all that the man's created.” — Wayne Allan Brenner - The Austin Chronicle
“…[A] compelling work of science fiction… Ordinarily, the living are haunted by ghosts. But in this story, ghosts are being haunted by the living. Clever.” — Jeremy Sigler - The Comics Journal
“Shaw creates a memorable world with deep, compelling conflicts for his characters. Simply put: Doctors will make you think. For anyone interested in speculative fiction or examinations into the meaning of death and what comes after, Doctors is a fascinating and entertaining quick read.” — Brian Burmeister - Cleaver Magazine
Specs
- Pages
- 96
- Format
- Paperback / Softback
- Color
- Full color
- Dimensions
- 6.1" × 8"
- ISBN-13
- 9781606998038